BEIJING, CHINA - China now has more than 50 million bloggers as increasing numbers of people seek an outlet for their views, state press reported.

The number, reached by the end of November, compared to a blogging population of about 47 million a year earlier, according to Xinhua news agency, quoting figures from the Internet Society of China.

The group said there were 100 million blogs, or personal online journals, in China, meaning many people are keeping more than one.

"More and more Chinese want to express their own views about local and international events through the Internet," Gao Lulin, the group's deputy head, was quoted as saying.

The Internet Society of China represents firms in the industry such as service providers and network access carriers, as well as research institutes.

China has the world's largest population of Internet users at 290 million, according to government figures announced last month.

The growth in blogs has become an apparent source of concern for the ruling Communist Party, which strictly controls the media and Internet.

News on social unrest, dissidents, official corruption and abuses, and anything else that might embarrass or harm the government, is typically censored or suppressed.

But blogs and other Internet forums have often filled in the information gap, publicising events considered off-limits by the official media.

In response the government has in recent years imposed new requirements on bloggers, such as requiring users to register with their real names. --AFP